Law Enforcement Responses to
People with Mental Illnesses:
A GUIDE TO RESEARCH-INFORMED
POLICY AND PRACTICE

Melissa Reuland
Matthew Schwarzfeld
Laura Draper

Council of State Governments Justice Center
New York, New York

Supported by

This project was supported by Grant No. 05-82376-000-HCD, awarded by the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation.
Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not represent the official position or
policies of the MacArthur Foundation or the Council of State Governments members.
The MacArthur Foundation reserves the right to reproduce, publish, translate, or otherwise use and to authorize
others to publish and use all or any part of the copyrighted material contained in this publication.
The Council of State Governments Justice Center is a national nonprofit organization that serves policymakers at the
local, state, and federal levels from all branches of government. The Justice Center provides practical, nonpartisan
advice and consensus-driven strategies, informed by available evidence, to increase public safety and strengthen
communities.
Council of State Governments Justice Center, New York 10005
ÂŠ 2009 by the Council of State Governments Justice Center
All rights reserved. Published 2009.
Cover design by Mina Bellomy. Interior design by David Williams.

he complex nature of law enforcement responses to people with mental
illnesses has become an issue of national concern. These calls for service are

often time-consuming and difficult to resolve, and, on relatively rare occasions, result in tragic
injuries or deaths. Policymakers, community leaders, and the public are demanding better
outcomes from these encounters. In the face of this mounting pressure, and with a desire to improve
their interactions with people with mental illnesses, law enforcement officers are turning to specialized
responses. These efforts show great promise for increasing the safety of everyone involved and connecting
individuals to needed mental health supports and services when appropriate. However, policymakers
generally implement these programs without the benefit of research and data documenting the scope
and nature of the problem in their community, the weakness of past response models, and the relative
importance of specific program features.
To ensure law enforcement policies and practices related to people with mental illnesses are data
driven and well-informed, this guide summarizes the available research on law enforcement encounters
with people with mental illnesses and strategies to improve these interactions.

Encounters Between Law Enforcement and People with Mental Illnesses

Officers’ encounters with people with mental illnesses are relatively infrequent, but they can be
particularly challenging. These encounters
• often take much more time than other calls for service,
• require officers to have special training and skills,
• may depend on the availability of community mental health resources for successful outcomes,
• typically involve repeat contacts with the same individuals who have unresolved mental health needs,
• are mostly in response to a person with mental illness committing a minor or “nuisance” offense,
• occasionally involve volatile situations, risking the safety of all involved.
Officers generally have broad discretion in how they address minor offenses, or calls when no crime
has been committed but citizens or business owners want them to “do something” about an individual
whose actions are causing concern. Officers handle a majority of these incidents informally by talking
to the person at the scene without taking him or her into custody. These encounters provide officers
an opportunity—sometimes missed—to link individuals to effective interventions, which may prevent
subsequent law enforcement encounters.

Executive Summary

v

Specialized Law Enforcement Strategies

Law enforcement–based specialized responses can create positive changes for all individuals involved,
including the following:
• improving officer safety
• increasing access to mental health treatment, supports, and services
• decreasing the frequency of these individuals’ encounters with the criminal justice system
• reducing certain costs incurred by law enforcement agencies
Future Research Topics and Implications for Policy and Practice

The research presented in this guide is a useful foundation for making data-informed decisions about
policies and practices related to law enforcement encounters with people with mental illnesses. But it
is just that—a starting point. It does not negate the need for each community to conduct an analysis
of its unique strengths and challenges. Once policymakers identify programmatic goals that specifically
respond to the findings from this analysis, they can design, implement, or modify a program that best
fits their community’s needs. A research-based response will support program sustainability and help
achieve systemwide efficiencies when people with mental illnesses are prevented from cycling through the
criminal justice system.

vi

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

Acknowledgments

T

his report could not have been written
without the support and leadership of
the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation and, in particular, Program
Associate Steven Casey. His guidance was instrumental in framing the issue and ensuring the
document’s relevance to the field.
The National Institute of Mental Health
(NIMH), National Institutes of Health, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services,
also provided support for the initial meeting
of researchers and for the development of early
document drafts. Ms. Denise M. Juliano-Bult of
NIMH’s Services Research and Clinical Epidemiology Branch was especially helpful during this
critical phase of the project.
Thanks are also due to the members of the
project advisory board.* These leading researchers, practitioners, and policymakers (listed
alphabetically below) provided early guidance on
the implications of the research and the framework of the document.
• Mr. Stephen Baron, Director, District of
Columbia Department of Mental Health
• Dr. Gary Cordner, Professor, College of Law
Enforcement, Eastern Kentucky University
• Dr. Jeffrey Draine, Associate Professor, School
of Social Policy and Practice, University of
Pennsylvania
• Mr. Robert Hendricks, Acting Senior Policy
Advisor for Mental Health, Bureau of Justice
Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S.
Department of Justice

• Mr. Adam Kirkman, Project Associate, Policy
Research Associates, Inc.
• Officer Joan M. Logan, Crisis Intervention
Team Coordinator, Montgomery County (Md.)
Police Department
• Ms. Susan E. Salasin, Public Health Advisor,
Center for Mental Health Services, Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services
• Dr. Melissa Schaefer Morabito, Postdoctoral
Research Fellow, Center for Mental Health
Services and Criminal Justice Research, Rutgers
University and the University of Pennsylvania
• Dr. Henry J. Steadman, President, Policy
Research Associates, Inc.
• Dr. Jennifer Teller, Professor, Department of
Sociology, Kent State University
• Dr. Amy C. Watson, Assistant Professor, Jane
Addams College of Social Work, University of
Illinois at Chicago
Special thanks must also be given to Council of State Governments Justice Center Director
Michael Thompson, Health Systems and Services
Policy Director Fred Osher, and Consensus Project Director Nancy Fishman for their leadership
in shaping the scope and direction of this publication and ensuring its value to policymakers.
Justice Center Director of Communications
Martha Plotkin was instrumental at each phase of
development; her input made this a more readerfriendly and useful contribution to the field.

*Advisory board members’ titles and agency affiliations reflect the

positions they held at the time of their involvement with the project.

eadlines such as these appear every day
in newspapers across the country. The
stories focus on safety issues when law
enforcement officers encounter an individual whose behavior appears to be related to
a mental illness. They also focus on how officers
come in contact with the same person with mental illness again and again, often without positive
results. They all express a common theme: the
complex nature of law enforcement responses to
people with mental illnesses has become an issue
of national concern, and policymakers, community leaders, and the public are increasingly
demanding improved outcomes.
In the face of mounting pressure and the
desire to better serve people with mental illnesses,
law enforcement officials are turning to specialized responses to people with mental illnesses. In
these programs—the most common of which is
known as a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)—law
enforcement agencies partner with mental health
and community groups to train police responders to use crisis de-escalation strategies and to
prioritize treatment over incarceration when
appropriate. Although specialized responses are
relatively new, hundreds of communities have
implemented them since they first appeared in
the 1980s.*
Specialized responses increasingly are
regarded as having great potential to improve
law enforcement encounters with people with

*Agencies engaged in “law enforcement–based” responses to people

with mental illnesses have implemented programs that require
significant changes in law enforcement department policies and

mental illnesses. However, they generally are
developed without the benefit of research and
data documenting the scope of the problem they
are designed to address, the weaknesses of the
traditional response, and the relative importance
of specific program features. Rather, they have
spread as many such innovative practices do:
practitioners and advocates provide anecdotal
information attesting to the need and effectiveness of the programs and then work with
policymakers to adapt other jurisdictions’ successes. This “from-the-ground-up” process may be
appropriate for initial innovators, but, ultimately,
programs developed based on data and research
are more effective and easier to sustain.
Modest research on law enforcement
encounters with people with mental illnesses
and specialized responses does exist. As national
attention to this issue has grown, so too has the
pool of studies examining the various aspects of
these approaches; however, there are still relatively few comprehensive or in-depth studies.
In addition, as more and more communities
implement the CIT model and other types of
responses, an increasing number of local law
enforcement agencies and their research partners
have collected data to inform their own program’s
development. Unfortunately, the results often
present an incomplete or complex story that
does not necessarily translate into clear policy
recommendations.

procedures. This guide does not examine practices that rely solely on
mental health agencies to respond to incidents involving people with
mental illnesses.

Introduction

1

In response to these perceived gaps, this
guide summarizes and helps translate the available research on law enforcement encounters
involving people with mental illnesses and strategies to improve these encounters. Based on an
extensive review of the research by experts in the
field, this document presents illustrative examples
from a range of studies representing diverse perspectives on this subject. It is not meant to be an
exhaustive inventory of the literature, but rather
a guide to what the research tells us about law
enforcement’s response to people with mental illnesses, with support from studies that reflect the
body of knowledge in that area. This guide also
outlines questions left unanswered by current
research. In so doing, the intention is to make
sense of the information in a way that will inform
policy and program design decisions and suggest
future topics for researchers to explore. This guide
is divided into three sections.
• Section One: Encounters Between Law
Enforcement and People with Mental Illnesses
explores the extent, nature, and outcomes of
law enforcement interactions involving people
with mental illnesses. The data demonstrate the
scope of the problem and illustrate the challenges and risks involved with these incidents.
• Section Two: Specialized Law Enforcement
Strategies examines a range of law enforcement
responses specially designed to improve officers’
encounters with people with mental illnesses

and their outcomes. The data provide readers
with the context to understand the impact of
these strategies on communities and the potential effects on officers’ attitudes.
• Section Three: Future Research Topics and
Implications for Policy and Practice highlights
the gaps in the current body of research that
could help law enforcement better design its
programs and policymakers determine how
best to allocate resources that would support
these efforts. It also outlines the implications of
the findings presented in this guide for policy
and practice.
Each section is organized around the questions policymakers most often pose, and, in
Sections One and Two, the guide provides
succinct answers that draw on existing research.
The policy statements summarizing the
research were developed with a group of experts—
leading researchers, law enforcement and
mental health practitioners, and policymakers—
who participated in an advisory panel to provide
input on which studies to include, how to interpret the research, and the implications for policy
development. With their help, this document is
meant to bridge the gap between research and
practice, and to provide a springboard for policy­
makers interested in supporting research-based
practices.

Limitations and Details of the Research
The authors did not approach this project with defined criteria for “acceptable”
research methodologies, but chose to include data derived using a wide variety of methodologies,
some more rigorous than others. Because of the varied design sophistication, findings reflect a range
of validity and generalizability, and readers are urged to consider a specific study’s methodology when
extrapolating from these data.

This document presents the most recent data available. Certain topics and questions have not
been explored in depth in the past decade, so some studies from the 1980s and 1990s are included
to provide a thorough picture of the scope of research. The time period can be an important factor
when considering relevance, and readers should take this into account when examining the findings.
For more information about the challenges and apparent inconsistencies of law enforcement
research, see Appendix A.

2

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

S E C T I O N O ne

Encounters Between Law Enforcement
and People with Mental Illnesses
Law enforcement encounters with people with mental illnesses are relatively infrequent, but they can be
disproportionately time-consuming and complex. They often involve repeat contacts with individuals suspected of low-level crimes or exhibiting nuisance behavior, without positive outcomes. Some encounters
do involve volatile situations that may place officers, the person with mental illness, and others at risk.

L

aw enforcement officers engaged in today’s
community policing efforts inevitably
provide citizens with services that go well
beyond enforcing laws or maintaining
public safety and order. Law enforcement officers are first-line, around-the-clock, emergency
responders, mediators, referral agents, counselors, youth mentors, crime prevention actors,
and much more. Among their growing list of
responsibilities is the need to effectively respond
to people with mental illnesses. All too often,
individuals’ inadequately treated mental illnesses
are manifested in ways that can result in their
contact with law enforcement—sometimes with
tragic results. How law enforcement responds to
these individuals can have a tremendous impact
on how encounters are resolved and what future
these individuals can expect. Law enforcement’s
actions and perceptions often determine whether

the individual will find much-needed treatment,
continue in his or her current situation, or enter
the criminal justice system.
Experience in the field has led frontline
officers to acknowledge they need more resources
and training to respond to these challenging calls.
Experts in the mental health field—including
practitioners, advocates, and individuals with
mental illnesses and their families—agree and
can offer broad anecdotal support. Policymakers,
however, need more than personal experiences; they need data that quantify the nature
and extent of the problem in order to commit
resources and energy toward a potential response.
This section highlights the research available to
address this need by exploring the scope and scale
of law enforcement encounters with people with
mental illnesses.

Section One: Encounters Between Law Enforcement and People with Mental Illnesses

3

Trends of People with Mental Illnesses in the Criminal Justice System
Few institutions have attempted so complete a change in recent years as has the United

States’ mental health system. In 1964, driven in part by fiscal reality, political realignment, philosophical shifts, and medical advancements, Congress passed the Community Mental Health Centers Act.
Since then, the system has shifted its emphasis almost entirely from institutional care and segregation to providing community-based support for individuals with mental illnesses. In 1955, there were
339 state psychiatric beds for every 100,000 people in the population. By 2005, this number had
dropped to 17 per 100,000.4 This process is referred to as “deinstitutionalization.”
Some observers suggest that deinstitutionalization is a main cause of the increased number
of people with mental illnesses in contact with the criminal justice system. In fact, no study has
definitively shown a transition of this population from mental health institutions to jails and prisons.
Other trends in criminal justice and mental health policy—for example, higher arrest rates for drug
offenses and underfunded community-based treatment—are likely to account for this population’s
increasing contact with law enforcement, courts, and corrections.

4

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

Research Findings
1. What types of encounters do law enforcement officers have
involving people with mental illnesses?
a. The majority of law enforcement encounters with people with mental
illnesses are with individuals suspected of committing low-level,
misdemeanor crimes, or who are exhibiting nuisance behavior.* Law
enforcement may receive calls when a business owner or community
member wants officers to “do something” about a person—whether or
not a crime was committed.
 Based

on 148 contacts between police and people believed to have mental illnesses during one month
in 1994 in Honolulu (Hawaii) city and county, officers determined that the majority of individuals either
had committed no criminal offense (45.3 percent) or had exhibited disorderly conduct (27.7 percent).
The person’s conduct most frequently included “loud or obnoxious behavior” or “untidiness.”5

 In

a study conducted in a large Midwestern city in 1980 and 1981, the majority (71 percent) of police
encounters with people who were “mentally disordered” involved individuals known to officers either as
“neighborhood characters,” “troublemakers,” or “relatively unobtrusive” individuals.6

b. Law enforcement officers encounter people with mental illnesses at risk of
harming themselves.
 In

the first nine months of 2006, the Los Angeles (Calif.) Police Department made 46,129 contacts
with people suspected of having a “mental disorder.” Of those, 709 had attempted suicide and 4,686
were taken into custody for an emergency evaluation.7

Understanding “Suicide-by-Cop”
A 2006 literature review determined that available data on incidents in which individuals intend

to end their own lives by engaging in criminal behavior to prompt a lethal response by law enforcement officers—known colloquially as “suicide-by-cop”—are too flawed by methodology to provide a
reliable understanding of this phenomenon. However, when considered in its entirety, the body of
research does suggest that a mental illness and history of substance abuse, coupled with substance
use at the time of the incident, are relevant factors in these events.9

*“Nuisance behavior” refers to those actions that violate community norms by causing damage, annoyance, or inconvenience. Examples include

public drunkenness and loitering.

Section One: Encounters Between Law Enforcement and People with Mental Illnesses

5

c. Of all calls for service involving people believed to have mental illnesses,
law enforcement officers encounter individuals at risk of harming someone
else relatively infrequently.
 The

Albuquerque (N.Mex.) Police Department’s CIT program reported that in one year 14 percent of
calls for service involved a suspect possessing a weapon.10

 Police

officers in Honolulu (Hawaii) city and county noted that a person’s behavior was “assaultive or
violent” in 12.2 percent of their 148 encounters with people believed to have mental illnesses.11

Understanding Mental Illness and Violence*
The stereotype that people with mental illnesses are more likely than the general population to be violent is not fully supported by the evidence.12 Several large-scale research projects found
a weak statistical association between mental illness and violence.13 The association becomes stronger, however, when a person with a mental illness has a co-occurring substance use disorder and/or is
not taking his or her medication.14 Still, it is important to note that research focusing solely on people
with mental illnesses who were involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility may distort the relationship between violence and mental illness as these individuals represent only a small fraction—the
most severely ill—of this group.15

Although data are scarce on the precise number of law enforcement field contacts with someone with a mental illness who is exhibiting violent or aggressive behavior, research shows that officers
do respond to calls for service that involve people with mental illnesses whose violent behavior is at
issue.16 For law enforcement policymakers, the critical question is not whether people with mental illnesses are dangerous, but how best to maintain safety when violent or dangerous behavior results in
calls to law enforcement.

2. What is the extent of law enforcement officers’ encounters with
people with mental illnesses?
a. A relatively small percentage of total law enforcement contacts are in
response to calls that involve individuals who officers believe have mental
illnesses.
 In

a six-year period (1998–2004), the Akron (Ohio) Police Department responded to 10,004 calls
related to a “mental disturbance.” This represents 6.55 percent of the total call load (1,527,281 calls)
during that period.17

*This sidebar was adapted from Reuland, M., “Police Use of Force and People with Mental Illness.” In J. Ederheimer (Ed.) Strategies for Resolving

Conflict and Minimizing Use of Force. Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2007.

6

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

 Three

percent of more than 12,000 police field encounters in two large cities involved someone who
was “mentally impaired.”19

 In

174 U.S. police departments serving more than 100,000 people examined in 1998, approximately
seven percent of all police contacts—including both investigations and complaints—involved a person
believed to have a mental illness.20

b. Law enforcement officers repeatedly respond to a small subset of
individuals whom they believe have mental illnesses.
 Twenty

percent of 507 calls for service identified as involving a person with a mental illness in one year
in Lexington (Ky.) occurred in just 17 locations; police responded to each of the 17 locations three or
more times in that year.21

 In

Santa Fe (N.Mex.), an analysis of a random sample of individuals taken into police custody—either
through arrest, protective custody (for example, for intoxication) or involuntary mental health hold—
indicates that people detained due to mental health or substance use problems generated significantly
more police contacts during the two-year study period than did those without ascertainable mental
health or substance use disorders. Individuals who had multiple prior detentions for mental health or
substance abuse problems or prior treatment for those problems were significantly more likely to be
taken into custody—either through arrest or involuntary hold—in the future.22

 The

Los Angeles (Calif.) Police Department identified 67 people with mental illnesses who had a
minimum of five contacts with law enforcement during the first eight months of 2004. This resulted in
a total of 536 calls for service during this time period.23

 In

148 incidents involving people believed to have mental illnesses, police officers in Honolulu (Hawaii)
city and county “recognized the person on sight” in 94 of these encounters.24

c. Although the amount of time varies by disposition, officers can spend
significant time trying to resolve situations involving people with mental
illnesses, during which they cannot respond to other calls for service. The
most time-consuming disposition is when law enforcement transports an
individual to an emergency medical facility and waits for medical clearance
or admission.
 The

Lincoln (Neb.) Police Department handled more than 1,500 “mental health investigation cases” in
2002 and found that it spent more time on these cases than on injury traffic accidents, burglaries, or
felony assaults.25

 Officers

in Honolulu (Hawaii) spent a significant amount of time resolving incidents involving people
believed to have mental illnesses, varying by disposition. When transporting a person to a hospital for
an emergency evaluation, the officer spent an average of 145 minutes on the incident. When arresting
a person with a mental illness, the officer spent an average of 64.2 minutes on the incident. When
officers executed informal dispositions, incidents were resolved in 23.3 minutes on average.26

 The

Los Angeles (Calif.) Police Department reported spending more than 28,000 hours a month on
calls involving people with mental illnesses.27

 In

1986, a suburban Colorado police department reported spending an average of 74 minutes
addressing each of the 60 “mental health-related calls” studied.28

Section One: Encounters Between Law Enforcement and People with Mental Illnesses

7

3. What are the outcomes of law enforcement officers’ responses
to people with mental illnesses?
a. Though violent outcomes are relatively rare, law enforcement has reported
that these encounters can present risks for all involved.
 According

to FBI Uniform Crime Reporting statistics, during a ten-year period (1997–2006) 1,058
officers were assaulted and 13 officers feloniously killed in the line of duty when “handling persons
with mental illnesses.” This represents approximately 1.8 percent of all assaults and 2.3 percent of
felonious killings during this period.29

 In

the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) 2004 study of 28 police departments with specialized
responses to people with mental illnesses, nearly half of the departments reported that a tragic
incident involving a person with a mental illness served as a main impetus for developing the program.30

 Officers

surveyed in a study on police use of force considered “mentally impaired” people significantly
more “threatening” during arrests and “required more effort to arrest,” but did not consider this
population more likely than individuals without “mental impairments” to inflict injury on officers.31

b. Officers handle a majority of incidents informally by talking to the people
with mental illnesses, without taking them into police custody or connecting
them to treatment.*
 Seventy-two

percent of situations involving a person believed to have a mental illness in Honolulu
(Hawaii) were handled informally by “counseling and releasing” the individual at the scene (52 percent)
or with “no action” (20 percent).32

 Findings

from an observational study conducted in a large Midwestern city in 1980 and 1981
demonstrated that officers handled informally more than 70 percent of incidents involving people
with mental illnesses.33

c. Officers sometimes take people with mental illnesses into custody, either
in the course of an arrest or to provide transportation to a medical facility.
The frequency of custodial actions varies by jurisdiction.
 Of

calls for service involving someone with a mental illness during the two years before implementing a
CIT program, police officers in the Akron (Ohio) Police Department executed an arrest in three percent of
the calls and transported an individual to an emergency psychiatric facility in 26 percent of the calls.34

 Law

enforcement officers in Florida transported more than 40,000 people with mental illnesses for
involuntary 72-hour psychiatric examinations under the Baker Act—the state’s emergency evaluation
statute—in 2000. This exceeded the number of arrests in the state during the same period for either
aggravated assault (39,120) or burglary (26,087).35

 Officers

in Honolulu (Hawaii) made an arrest in 14.9 percent of incidents involving individuals believed
to have mental illnesses. Officers were significantly more likely to arrest a person suspected of
committing a misdemeanor and known to have a criminal history.36

*Informal actions in which the individual is not linked to services may be a contributing factor in repeat calls for service.

8

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

SE C T I O N two

Specialized Law Enforcement
Strategies
Law enforcement–based specialized response programs have been shown to improve officer safety;
increase access to mental health treatments, supports, and services; decrease the frequency of these
individuals’ encounters with the criminal justice system; and reduce certain costs incurred by law enforcement agencies.

S

ince the 1980s, law enforcement agencies have increasingly collaborated with
mental health providers and advocates
to design specialized responses to people
with mental illnesses. In a 1996 survey of specialized law enforcement–based response programs
(which studied U.S. law enforcement departments serving populations greater than 100,000),
the authors identified two primary response
models. The first type trains sworn officers to
provide crisis intervention services and act as
liaisons to the formal mental health system; the
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model, pioneered
in Memphis (Tenn.), fits into this category. The
second type partners mental health professionals with law enforcement at the scene to provide
consultation on mental health-related issues and
assist individuals in accessing treatments and
supports; this strategy is commonly referred to
as the co-responder model. Since both models
first emerged, the number of such specialized
programs has grown from fewer than 30 reported
in the 1996 survey to more than 1,050 agencies
today.

*The Criminal Justice/Mental Health Information Network (InfoNet),

coordinated by the Council of State Governments Justice Center,

Calculating the Number of
Law Enforcement Agencies
with Specialized Response
Programs
Estimates of the number of law

enforcement agencies with specialized
programs vary widely. The CIT Center at the
University of Memphis places the number
at around 1,050 communities, but others have estimated far fewer.37 Differences
likely stem from two factors. First, those
based on an online survey, such as the one
from the Criminal Justice/Mental Health
Information Network (www.cjmh-infonet.
org) coordinated by the Council of State
Governments Justice Center, includes only
law enforcement agencies that submitted a
survey.* Second, “program” can be defined
differently. Smaller estimates may refer to
agencies with fully implemented programs;
larger numbers may include agencies just
beginning program implementation.

includes examples of law enforcement–based specialized response
programs throughout the United States.

Section Two: Specialized Law Enforcement Strategies

9

Although research has not yet documented
which program features are most critical to a
successful program, agencies involved with specialized response programs report that certain
key components of their programs contribute
to their success, including strong collaborative
ties between law enforcement and mental health
service providers and a broad range of training

for all relevant personnel.38 Another study suggests jurisdictions must have a “specialized crisis
response site” to which officers can transport
people for formal mental health assessment.
This allows law enforcement officers a quick
turnaround, minimizing the time they spend
resolving these encounters.39

Understanding Specialized Responses:
A Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, Toolkit
The Council of State Governments Justice Center and Police Executive Research Forum
(PERF) developed a series of resources that foster improved law enforcement responses to people with
mental illnesses. One of these practical materials is The Essential Elements of a Specialized Law Enforcement–Based Program, which describes the 10 critical features in any successful law enforcement–led
response.*

Other resources include a guide for overcoming common barriers to effective law enforcement
training on mental health responses, web-based information and peer-to-peer learning opportunities
(available on the InfoNet, www.cjmh-infonet.org), and case studies of statewide efforts to improve law
enforcement responses to people with mental illnesses. At this writing, an additional product in development examines jurisdictions that designed law enforcement programs that have been tailored to
unique challenges and community supports and services.

*The findings in this document were corroborated through a

consensus-based project that resulted in the Essential Elements
(Schwarzfeld, Reuland, and Plotkin 2008) and involved multiple
reviews by expert policymakers and practitioners in several disciplines.

10

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

The Essential Elements and related resources were supported by the
Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, and are
available online at the Justice Center’s Consensus Project website,
www.consensusproject.org/issue-areas/law-enforcement.

Research Findings
1. What is the impact of specialized law enforcement responses
to people with mental illnesses?

San Jose (Calif.) Police Department’s CIT program reported a 32 percent decrease in officer
injuries in the year following program implementation.40

 The

Memphis (Tenn.) Police Department reported that in the three years before implementing a CIT
program the rate of injuries to officers responding to “mental disturbance calls” was 0.035 per 1,000
events (equal to one in 28,571 events). In the three years following program implementation, this rate
decreased to 0.007 per 1,000 events (equal to one in 142,857 events). Other types of disturbance
calls, including domestic violence calls, did not show a similar trend during this period.41

b. Specialized responses increase the frequency with which law enforcement
officers transport individuals to mental health facilities for evaluations and
treatment, resulting in greater access to needed crisis and noncrisis supports
and services.
 In

a study comparing the outcomes of calls handled by CIT-trained officers with those handled by nonCIT trained officers in the Akron (Ohio) Police Department, CIT-trained officers transported people with
mental illnesses to psychiatric emergency services significantly more often than their non-CIT trained
counterparts.42

 The

Memphis (Tenn.) Police Department’s CIT program reported that during its first four years, the
rate of referrals by law enforcement officers to the regional psychiatric emergency service increased by
42 percent.43

 A

three-city analysis comparing dispositions by responders in a CIT program, a co-responder program,
and a mobile crisis team revealed that officers in a police-based response were more likely than other
officers to transport individuals to mental health services or treatment and to resolve fewer incidents
informally.44

 In

a four-site study comparing outcomes for individuals diverted by police with those for individuals
not diverted, diverted individuals had greater access to mental health crisis services: 31.6 percent of
men and women diverted used emergency room (ER) services and 35.6 percent used hospital services.
Of the nondiverted group, 25.7 percent used ER services and 20.6 percent used hospital services.
Diverted individuals likewise had greater access to noncrisis services: 81.6 percent received medication
and 57.5 percent received counseling. Of nondiverted individuals, 72.7 percent received medication
and 55.3 percent received counseling.45

Section Two: Specialized Law Enforcement Strategies

11

c. Individuals referred to mental health treatment by law enforcement officers
experience fewer subsequent contacts with the criminal justice system than
individuals who were not referred to services.
 In

an article summarizing studies of one-year outcomes of pre- and postarrest diversion programs,
diverted individuals with mental illnesses spent more time in the community without a related increase
in arrests.46

d. Specialized law enforcement–based response programs have mixed effects
on the frequency with which law enforcement officers arrest people believed
to have mental illnesses.
 A

study that compared the outcomes of calls handled by CIT-trained officers with those handled by
non-CIT officers in the Akron (Ohio) Police Department showed no difference between the two groups in
numbers of arrests.47

 In

a study examining two specialized police-based programs (CIT and co-response) in police
departments in Memphis (Tenn.) and Birmingham (Ala.), arrest rates of people with mental illnesses
were two percent and 13 percent, respectively.48 These rates can be compared with an earlier study
that noted a 16 percent arrest rate in a different community without a specialized police program.49

studies of outcomes of pre- and postarrest diversion programs, diverted individuals with mental
illnesses incurred lower criminal justice costs and greater treatment costs than those who were not
diverted.50

 The

number of Tactical Apprehension Containment Team (TACT, similar to SWAT) calls in the Memphis
(Tenn.) Police Department has decreased by nearly 50 percent since the implementation of its CIT
program.51

 Since

the implementation of CIT in the Albuquerque (N.Mex.) Police Department, the use of SWAT
teams involving a mental health crisis intervention has decreased by 58 percent.52

2. What is the impact of training on law enforcement officers’
attitudes toward people with mental illnesses?
a. Specialized training improves officers’ understanding of mental illness and
the effects of mental illness on an individual’s behavior.
 CIT

training for law enforcement officers reduces “stigmatizing attitudes” toward people with
schizophrenia.53

12

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

S E C T I O N three

Future Research Topics and
Implications for Policy and Practice

T

here is still a lot to learn about law enforcement encounters with people with mental
illnesses and specialized responses. The
research findings in Section One illustrate
the need for more information on law enforcement responses to people with mental illnesses,
and, although Section Two highlights some
promising specialized practices, many gaps in the
knowledge base remain. This section highlights
some of those major knowledge gaps and discusses how the state of the research affects policy
and practice.
Future Research Topics
The research presented in this guide provides
a strong start to the study of law enforcement
encounters with people with mental illnesses.
However, when considered as a whole, the body
of research also clearly reveals important gaps in
the knowledge base. To obtain a more complete
national picture of these complicated encounters,

researchers must drill down into the specifics
of these interactions and their outcomes. (For
readers interested in a more detailed potential
research agenda, see Appendix B.)
• Although research to date indicates injury is an
atypical outcome of these encounters, what is
the rate of injury to the officer, the person with
mental illness, and bystanders across a broad
and diverse sample of jurisdictions?
• Law enforcement encounters involving people
with mental illnesses as offenders appear to be
relatively infrequent, but how often do officers
encounter people with mental illnesses as crime
victims?
• Connection to mental health treatment
services can be an appropriate diversion for
people suspected of committing low-level,
nuisance offenses, but what can the mental
health system do to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of this connection?

A Call for Prospective Research
Most of the research has been “retrospective,” relying on information about past experiences. In contrast, “prospective research” assesses a program’s impact by examining data collected
before, during, and after implementation of a given program. Data from prospective research are
generally more reliable in assessing whether a program is effecting the positive outcomes it seeks, as
they provide more accurate, consistent, and objective findings. The body of literature on law enforcement–based specialized responses would benefit from methodologically rigorous, prospective research
designs that would examine the questions outlined here.

Section Three: Future Research Topics and Implications for Policy and Practice

13

• Once an agency implements a specialized
response program, what information does it
need to collect to sustain it, and what are the
best methods to carry out the process?
These questions represent just a few of the
many holes in the research that, if filled, can
build on the valuable foundation provided by
research efforts to date and help guide policy­
makers and practitioners in their efforts to
improve law enforcement interactions involving
people with mental illnesses.
Implications for Policy
and Practice
The information in this guide can provide a
concise orientation to the issue and help policymakers and practitioners interested in developing
research-based arguments adopt or change programs. As the findings suggest, law enforcement
encounters with people with mental illnesses
present a wide range of challenges, and, although
there is no single solution, specialized response
programs and training can increase positive
outcomes.
A pervasive limitation of the research
presented in Sections One and Two is that the
results may not be generalized to other jurisdictions. This lack of universal applicability of the
findings suggests that each community needs to
study and examine its own unique circumstances
when developing or enhancing a specialized

*The Justice Center and PERF are developing a resource that examines

jurisdictions that have developed a law enforcement program tailored
to their unique challenges and strengths. This product will be part of
the suite of materials developed with support by the Bureau of Justice

14

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

response program. No two communities are
identical, and, although this research provides
a broad understanding of some common issues
many communities face, it does not obviate the
need for an in-depth review of local problems
and resources to address them. When deciding
to design a specialized response program, policymakers must take into account a variety of issues
that can affect program design.*
• What is the impetus for change in the
community (for example, to reduce injuries
or repeat calls for service)?
• What characteristics of the jurisdiction make
it unique (for example, demographics or
geographic distribution of resources)?
• What mental health resources are available in
the community?
The research presented in this guide plays
an important role in framing the discussion about
improving public safety, officer safety, and outcomes for people with mental illnesses, but it is
still not well developed and should be just a starting point for community problem-solving efforts.
Once policymakers identify programmatic goals
that are specific to their community’s needs and
resources, they can use the data collected by law
enforcement, mental health practitioners, and
others to supplement the research done to date.
They can then consider the full range of strategies
to achieve their goals and plan or modify a program to achieve desired outcomes.

Assistance, and is described in more details in the sidebar “Understanding Specialized Responses: A Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S.
Department of Justice, Toolkit,” on p. 10.

Conclusion

T

he current body of research provides a window into how specialized law enforcement
responses to people with mental illnesses
can contribute to greater safety for all those
involved in encounters and provide better longterm results. Though study design issuesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;such as
sampling, methodology, and reporting errorsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
require cautious interpretation of the results, the
findings can begin to inform defensible policy and
practice.
Circumstances do not always allow time for
policymakers to thoroughly investigate a problem
in their community before responding; tragic incidents can require quick decisions. This guide can
help ready policymakers for a quick, responsible
response and assist them in communicating the
research-based benefits of instituting a specialized
law enforcement response to people with mental

illnesses. It can also justify the investment of
resources in determining the scope of the problem
in a particular jurisdiction. Once the decision to
explore a specialized response is reached, the additional resources described in this guide can help
jurisdictions understand the essential elements
and particular considerations for any successful initiative. Although there is still much more
information needed to guide decision-making,
researchers and practitioners who have contributed to the current body of knowledge have put
us on track to create collaborative law enforcement strategies that are based on the best thinking
and evidence available. With the proper leadership
at all levels of government, that work can be continued and carried out in jurisdictions across the
United States.

Conclusion

15

Appendix A
Understanding Apparent Inconsistencies
in Law Enforcement Research

R

esearchers face many challenges when
trying to explore and evaluate law
enforcement practices and policies. Specifically, when studying law enforcement
encounters with people with mental illnesses, a
researcher must first define mental illness. The difficulty of this task is illustrated by the inconsistent
ways the studies cited in this guide define and
describe mental illnesses. Studies that use existing law enforcement agency data typically use
nonclinical terms and often describe individuals
“believed to have a mental illness,” based on an
officer’s impression. Studies that use data beyond
existing law enforcement reports tend to use
more refined definitions. Similarly, language used
to describe mental illnesses differs in communities and across the country and has changed over
time. Throughout this guide, the authors preserve
both the original definitions and language used by
researchers.
Another obstacle that researchers face is
deciding how to measure outcomes, or what the
policy is trying to address, such as changes in
arrest rates, calls for service, or total law enforcement contacts. Listed below are a few possible
outcome measures and the difficulties associated
with each option.
Arrest rates: The arrest rates for people with
mental illnesses range from three to 16 percent.
The different policies that govern officer decisionmaking in certain arrest situations could explain
this broad range. Some jurisdictions mandate
arrest in certain situations, whereas others provide

more discretion to responding officers. This difference in policies can have a major impact on
officers’ handling of calls in which mental illness
may be a factor and, consequently, on arrest rates.
Calls for service: Data on the number of
calls for service coded as potentially involving a
person with a mental illness exclude field contacts
that are not the result of an actual call for service
(such as street encounters), calls inaccurately
coded (logged as a trespass but not involving a
person with mental illness), or incidents that
responding officers could categorize as involving a
person with mental illness only at the completion
of the call (a call for service is often not recoded
to indicate the encounter did in fact involve a person believed to have a mental illness). As a result,
using calls for service data likely underestimates
the frequency of law enforcement encounters with
people with mental illnesses.
Total law enforcement contacts: When
comparing different data illustrating the percentages of law enforcement encounters involving
a person with a mental illness compared with
all law enforcement encounters, it is important
to understand how different studies define “law
enforcement encounters.” For example, the
authors from one study refer to the total number
of calls for service, whereas another pair of authors
considers calls for service in addition to other
types of contacts, such as officers observing behaviors while on patrol. Both methods are valid, but
may still yield different results.

Appendix A: Understanding Apparent Inconsistencies in Law Enforcement Research

17

Some of the findings presented in this guide
may appear contradictory or inconsistent because
of the reasons described above and other variations in terminology and methodology. This does
not mean only one set of findings is accurate,
but rather that readers should take into account

18

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

differences of time, place, and methodology, and
how these factors can affect study outcomes. For
those interested in reading more about a given
study, refer to the Bibliography for the original
research citation information.

Appendix B
Detailed List of Research Questions

T

hese research questions are not an exhaustive list of potential avenues for new study,
but rather are illustrative of the direction
new efforts might take. The authors identified these questions following discussions with
consultants and reviewing the data that are currently available. These questions remain largely
unanswered by the extant literature.
1. Information needed to better understand
law enforcement encounters involving
people with mental illnesses:
a. What is the frequency of law enforcement
encounters with people with mental illnesses
as the victims, not perpetrators, of crime?
b. What measures can be collected to better
identify the full scope and nature of all law
enforcement interactions with people with
mental illnesses?
c. How often are people injured—the officer,
the person with mental illness, a bystander—
as a result of a law enforcement encounter
involving someone with a mental illness, and
in what circumstances?
2. Information needed to guide specialized
response program development in a given
jurisdiction:
a. What aspects of community collaboration
are most effective in developing these specialized programs (e.g., number and type
of partners, meeting structures, participant
activities, accountability measures, group
processes)?

b. What elements of the specialized response
program are critical to the program’s success
given a community’s unique characteristics?
c. How can rural jurisdictions adapt specialized response models to be effective in their
community, particularly with limited access
to local mental health resources? And what
about very large urban jurisdictions’ special
concerns?
3. Information needed to better understand the
training involved with a specialized response
program:
a. What type and amount of training is most
effective in changing officer attitudes and
behavior on scene?
b. How does the quality of dispatch information affect the response?
c. What portion of the law enforcement agency
should receive what level of training to be
most effective?
d. What training protocol is most effective in
ensuring an officer trained in de-escalation
is on scene quickly given local agency and
community factors—training all patrol
officers extensively, training only a subset
of officers extensively, or training all officers
with de-escalation techniques while a subset
receives more intensive training?

Appendix B: Detailed List of Research Questions

19

4. Information needed to better understand
the tactics, protocols, and procedures
involved in specialized responses:
a. What factors influence protocol
effectiveness?
b. What tactics are most effective in safely
de-escalating situations involving people
with mental illnesses?
c. What protocols, tactics, or technologies are
most effective in safely de-escalating â&#x20AC;&#x153;critical incidents,â&#x20AC;? those involving people with
mental illnesses who have weapons or are
violent?
5. Information needed to guide disposition
practices and policies:
a. What is the range of appropriate
dispositions?
b. What factors affect disposition choice?
c. What is the safest way to transport people
with mental illnesses in police custody
that minimizes the stress and stigma of
confinement?
d. What procedures promote safe and efficient
custodial transfer at the mental health
facility and ensure effective triage and
referral?

20

Law Enforcement Responses to People with Mental Illnesses

e. What are the clinical challenges for people
with mental illnesses who are arrested? How
can they be minimized?
f. What police referrals and treatment protocols are associated with long-term wellness
and reduced repeat encounters with police?
6. Information needed to sustain a law
enforcement specialized response program:
a. What changes are needed in the law
enforcement agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policies, practices, and
culture to support the specialized response
program and the personnel who further its
goals?
b. What are the financial implications of a
specialized law enforcement response?
7. Information needed to develop or enhance
data collection and evaluation practices:
a. What information should call takers obtain
to facilitate on-scene response?
b. What information should be maintained in
the database to facilitate program evaluation
and inform future calls?